Ohio History Journal

THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND FUTURE PROGRAM

OF THE OHIO HISTORICAL RECORDS

SURVEY PROJECT

 

By JAMES H. RODABAUGH

 

Beginnings

The Ohio Historical Records Survey Project began operations

in February, 1936. It was organized and operated by the super-

visors of the Writers' Project until November, 1936, when it be-

came an independent part of Federal Project No. 1. In Septem-

ber, 1939, Congress abolished the Federal projects, after which

the Ohio survey was established as a State project, sponsored by

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society.

Purpose

The purpose of the survey is twofold: To give work relief

and to contribute to the welfare of the State. It gives employ-

ment to "white-collar" workers who were caught in the stringency

of an unprecedented economic depression. The underlying prin-

ciple of this work relief program is to furnish useful employment

which contributes to the public welfare. The second purpose is

met by the compilation of inventories to source materials and

bibliographical guides to published materials pertaining to Ohio

and her history and the surveying of historic sites, buildings, and

other objects in the State of Ohio.

Organization and Operation

In order to carry on its work the survey is operating, or has

operated, in each of the 88 counties. It is organized along the

general lines of a modern research and publishing institution, em-

ploying fieldworkers, editors, writers, and proofreaders, but lack-

ing salesmen and adequate advertising facilities. The workers

are people certified for public relief. In most cases, although they

lack the qualifications for historical research, they become much

 

* Mr. John O. Marsh, formerly State director of the survey, collaborated in the

preparation of portions of this paper. I wish to acknowledge a debt to Miss Lillian

Kessler, who succeeded Mr. Marsh as State director, for information as to the present

status of the project.

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interested in their work and make an honest attempt to do a

good job. Some tend to become skilled through training and ex-

perience on the project. Administrative and technical supervisory

positions are non-relief, due to the necessity of filling them with

qualified personnel. The procedure in general has been to make

the fieldwork as mechanical as possible through the use of care-

fully constructed forms. In the District and State offices a small

group of trained technicians brings these materials together into

final and published form. The technical supervision of the survey

has been furnished chiefly by officials of the Ohio State Archaeo-

logical and Historical Society and Ph. D. graduates or advanced

students of history and government from Ohio State and Western

Reserve universities. At the top of the organization ladder, of

course, is the Work Projects Administration in Ohio which directs

the Historical Records Survey through its Research and Records

Division.

The Survey is departmentalized according to the various types

of materials with which it is working. These are the present de-

partments:

1. County and Municipal Archives Survey.

2. State and Federal Archives Survey.

3. Church Archives Survey.

4. Manuscript Program.

5. Bibliography of Ohio History and Literature and Ameri-

can Imprints Inventory.

6. Survey of Historic Sites and Place-names.

Each of these departments is a vast project and merits our

consideration.

County and Municipal Archives Survey

The initial task of the Records Project was the preparation

of inventories of the county and municipal archives of Ohio. This

project entails a complete survey and examination of the records

contained in the court-houses and other public depositories of

Ohio's 88 counties, 110 cities, and 759 villages. The published

archival guides are arranged in such a way as to make the records

readily available to public officials, lawyers, abstracters, business

men, and other citizens who require data from the public records.

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941            279

 

The published inventories do more than give merely a catalogue

of the records of a particular county or city. They present in a

general, but not too technical, way the historical background of

the county or municipality, and describe in detail the origin and

development of county and municipal administration. Further-

more, the inventories, in a section devoted to housing, care, and

accessibility of records, call attention to fire hazards and other

dangers threatening the public documents which, in many instances,

are located in overheated attics or damp basements or are virtually

hidden from use in cardboard or flimsy wooden boxes, barrels, or

bundles.

The published guides assist in making available the raw

materials which will enable the historian, political scientist, and

sociologist to analyze American localities according to the exacting

methods of modern research. Since our country has apparently

reached the age of retrospection, research in local government con-

stitutes a legitimate and important field of scientific investigation.

The results of this phase of the records program are at

the same time gratifying and disappointing: Gratifying, because

73 of the inventories have been completed and disappointing be-

cause of the bottleneck in publishing which has permitted only

14 to come out in final form. In 15 counties the fieldwork is in-

complete: Two of these are delayed by the construction of new

court-houses, six are being rechecked, and seven were found to be

unreliable and are being retaken. These seven all lie in the same

district where faulty supervision was to blame. Unfortunately

such frauds may occur in W. P. A. almost as easily as in other

governmental agencies or banks and private businesses. To give

you some idea of the vastness of the work which has been done,

it is estimated that the workers have surveyed at least 125 linear

miles of county records alone, in addition to preparing thousands

of notes from which the essays in the inventories have been writ-

ten. An average of about 650 different records have been sur-

veyed in each county.

Of the 869 municipal inventories, about 350 have been taken

and are in the State Office, 167 have been edited, and 52 have

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been published. The largest of these, the Cleveland inventory,

will comprise six quarto volumes averaging over 500 pages each.

One volume will contain extensive scientific essays on the origin

and development of the municipal government and five volumes

will contain the inventories. No other account of municipal ad-

ministration in the county is so complete and so practical from the

critical student's point of view. One volume of this set is already

published and the other five are virtually ready for publication.

The inventories of other municipalities are, likewise, well along

and rapidly being completed.

Some critics of the county and municipal guides find fault

with the extensive descriptions of the records. Dr. Richard B.

Morris, in a review in the American Historical Review, October,

1939, suggested the survey in general ought to follow the example

of North Carolina in using title line entries. However, there is

considerable difference of opinion on this point, and the survey

in Ohio and a number of its advisors have subscribed to the bene-

fits of descriptive entries, although at the sacrifice of more speedy

production and a saving on publication costs. The descriptive

entries prove to be much more satisfactory, especially for the stu-

dent who is not a specialist in local government.

It might be pointed out that the detailed legal essays on the

origin and development of local government in Ohio are the most

extensive studies on the subject. Surprisingly enough, there is

no satisfactory modern text on local government in this State.

The essays published in the county inventories have supplied this

deficiency in some educational institutions.

The value of the essays on accessibility and care of the records

can scarcely be doubted. In some cases the work of the survey

has awakened an interest in the records to such an extent that

steps have been taken for adequate care of them. In most in-

stances, however, the commissioners have little or no realization

of the value and importance of historical records and have paid

no heed to the suggestions of the survey. These political officers,

of course, are moved by public pressure. It is apparently up to

students of the social sciences, members of historical societies, and

others interested to impress upon the public mind the necessity

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for the preservation of our historical records and so force legal

action for this purpose.

Survey of State and Federal Archives

The survey is also concerned with the preparation of in-

ventories of the State archives and of the records of Federal

agencies located within Ohio. In preparing a critical and analyti-

cal history of government and politics in Ohio, the Northwest, and

the Nation, the archives of State offices and of agencies of the

Federal Government are requisite. No attempt, heretofore, has

been made to catalogue these records. The published inventories

will be invaluable to educational institutions in courses in public

law and in public administration.

The records of all of the 120 State departments, bureaus, and

agencies have been listed and seventeen draft inventories are com-

pleted. Only one inventory, that of the records of the Secretary

of State, has been published. A glance at its pages will reveal,

in addition to the record guide, a brief but detailed history of

the office of Secretary of State, an extensive account of the history

of the state-house, and a revealing essay on the housing, care,

and accessibility of the records. Only since 1935, and through

the assistance of W.P.A. labor, have the 85,000 square feet of

floor space of the state-house basement, once the stable for horses

of State officials, been reclaimed and made available for "the safe

keeping and systematic filing of precious documents and records."

Among the records of this office are such valuable documents as

the original copies of the constitutions of 1802 and 1851 and

subsequent amendments, manuscript House and Senate journals,

the original acts of the General Assembly, corporation records,

and election records.

The Federal Archives Survey, a foster child of the Historical

Records Survey, fails in many respects to meet the standards of

the project. The thirty-four governmental agencies and bureaus,

comprising a total of 70,053 linear feet of records, were inven-

toried under the administration of the Federal Archives Survey.

The inventories of six offices have been published. The remainder

are being edited rapidly and all should be ready for publication

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within the year. The survey has been concerned, however, only

with editing and publishing these inventories. The responsibility

for surveying and rechecking must be taken by the previous ad-

ministration. The order to publish without rechecking, in my

opinion, is most unfortunate.

Church Records Survey

The survey is devoting its energies largely to those records

which have previously been more or less inaccessible. Perhaps one

of the most worthy of its undertakings is the compilation of a

guide to the archives of the approximately 9,500 churches in Ohio.

The project is making a survey of the records in each of the

churches of every denomination, as well as of independent

churches in the State, listing all records, their locations, and the

names and addresses of custodians and describing the condition of

the records in their depositories. It is planned to publish these in-

ventories by denomination, each inventory containing historical

sketches treating of religion in Ohio, the denomination, and the

church. Church history, although written in great profusion in

the past, has not yet received the careful analytical study which its

importance merits. The reason for this is apparent. Heretofore

there has been no systematic attempt to bring together and make

available to students of history the raw material from which they

may forge a critical narrative of one of the greatest--if not the

greatest--civilizing forces in American society. The church rec-

ords form a vast reservoir of historical data which is necessary

for the historians and social scientists to write social history ade-

quately. The civilizing hand of the church preceded the trek of

the pioneers into the Old Northwest. Long before the first perma-

nent settlements were made, circuit preachers and missionaries,

representing various denominations, were carrying religious teach-

ings to the natives, thus announcing the advent of the white man's

civilization. Diaries and records of local ministers, sometimes

found in the minute books, supply information which is of utmost

importance to historians in reconstructing a narrative of the begin-

ning of American culture in the wilderness.

The church, sometimes called the balance wheel of society,

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follows the lives of its members from the cradle to the grave, re-

cording births, marriages, and deaths. Indeed, prior to 1857 in

Ohio, the church was the only institution which took the responsi-

bility of recording births. The church, through its records, per-

petuates the history of the family and of the individual. Some

who think of history consider only the illustrious--those individ-

uals who have distinguished themselves in government, war, art,

literature, science, or one of the learned professions. On the other

hand, history demonstrates that the real experience of the nation

or one of its subdivisions lies with the so-called common man.

The records of a phase of his activities lie in the basements or

attics of our churches. From such records now being listed it will

be possible for future historians to write a more adequate narra-

tive treating of the cultural life of the community. This history

is, of course, a history of ourselves, of our church, of our social

problems, and of our institutions.

The church has fulfilled many functions---educational, eco-

nomic, and political. He who would understand the real sources

of American inspiration, the defense of democracy, the crusades

for reform, the movements for social justice cannot neglect the

records deposited in the vaults of American churches.

It is important, too, that history written from the records of

the American churches will reflect clearly the American policy of

religious freedom and the unrestricted growth of ecclesiastical

organizations in accordance with the American ideal of Democracy.

From such records the American historian can present, in his own

way, unhampered by censorship or dictatorial policy, the part that

the church has played and will continue to play in the development

of higher life in America.

The records of approximately 6000 of the churches in Ohio

have been inventoried. Abstracts or entries have been prepared

for over 2000 churches in 40 denominations, and this work is pro-

ceeding rapidly. The survey of one of the earliest denominations

to come into Ohio, the United Presbyterian Church, has been com-

pleted and awaits only editing and arrangement before it is ready

for publication.

There are some who suggest the elimination of the prefatory

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essays in the publication of these inventories. The project set-up

presents a wonderful opportunity to coordinate information from

all over Ohio for an extensive history of each denomination within

the State. There are few, if any, adequate histories of the serv-

ices of any denomination in Ohio. The task of writing such a

work would be colossal for any one historian to undertake, because

of the variety and inaccessibility of the sources.

Manuscript Program

Although unpublished governmental and church records are

properly classified as manuscripts, the Records Project has con-

ducted a survey of additional manuscript materials, such as letters,

journals, diaries, business records, account books, minutes, and

proceedings. This phase of project operations has as its purpose

to locate and to describe and to prepare calendars and abstracts,

or edited abstracts, of selected collections. A guide to the manu-

script depositories in Ohio has been prepared and now awaits final

editing before publication. The excellent collection of the papers

of Joshua R. Giddings in the Library of the Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society has been abstracted. Of the 1260

pieces over 900 have been edited in complete and scholarly form.

The survey is now preparing the first volume of these for publica-

tion. A calendar of the Arthur St. Clair Papers in the Ohio

State Library, prepared by Miss Bertha K. Krauss, curator of

rare books and manuscripts, has been typed by the workers of

the survey. The project plans to check and edit this valuable

work and publish it.

A calendar of Executive Documents deposited in the Ohio

State Museum is being produced. Over 34,000 items for the years

1803-78 have been calendared on small file cards. The State Office

of the survey informs me that it is preparing, in final form, the

calendar entries for the years 1803-60. This volume will contain

around 16,000 entries, giving author, to whom written, dates, and

nature of document. One volume devoted to business records has

been completed for some time and should soon be published. This

is the "Calendar of the G. B. Savage Company and the D. Con-

nelly Boiler Company Collection" in Western Reserve University

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE, 1941             285

Library. Work along the lines of preparing calendars to manu-

script collections in Ohio could continue for a long time in the

future. Think only of the value of such work in the Western

Reserve Historical Society, the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society Library, and the Historical and Philosophical

Society at Cincinnati.

Bibliography of Ohio History and Literature and American

Imprints Inventory

No less significant for the layman, as well as the researcher,

is the compilation of comprehensive bibliographical guides to the

published sources treating of Ohio history. The Records Project

is compiling a bibliography of Ohio history and literature, which

will be a classified and annotated catalogue of books, monographs,

broadsides, pamphlets, and articles in periodicals which treat of

the history of Ohio. For the purpose of the survey, the word

"history" is interpreted in its broadest sense, to include every

phase of man's activity and thought. The bibliography is being

classified according to the chief fields of human endeavor. Op-

erating in the library centers of the State, the survey has examined

several million volumes and returned 37,368 entries, including du-

plicates which serve for checking purposes. A bibliography of Ohio

in the Territorial period, containing 1,780 items, is now prepared

and awaits classification and final editing before it can be published.

Another step-child of the Records Project is the Ohio Im-

prints Inventory, which is designed to furnish a list of all imprints

in the State up to and including the year 1876. One volume of

this survey, through the year 1830, is completed and awaits spon-

sorship funds to publish it. This checklist comprises a total of

1,548 items. This survey, which has taken the workers into most

of the public libraries of Ohio and some private libraries, has

necessitated the examination of five to six million catalogue cards

and around 500,000 books. The advertisements of publishers and

bookdealers in the newspapers were searched for obscure items.

The imprints inventory will, when finished, constitute the basic

guide to early printing and publishing in Ohio. The bibliography

of Ohio history and literature, together with the imprints inven-

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tory, will furnish Ohioans a complete, detailed and reliable manual

of historical literature.

Historic Sites and Place-names

Finally, the project is conducting a survey of historical sites

and determining the origin of selected place-names. One of the

principal objectives of the American educational system is, of

course, the perpetuation of the American phase of our diverse

cultural heritage. Historical information is derived, in the main,

from documentary and manuscript sources. On the other hand,

a certain amount of historical evidence must be wrested from in-

animate objects, the remains of former human activities. In each

community of the State there are historical sites which, although at

first glance appear to be of local interest only, become of great

significance in making up the grand total of the State's history.

There is a growing feeling that it is the duty of the members of

each community of the State to transmit historical information to

posterity more accurately than it was bequeathed to them. The

results of the Historic Sites Survey will provide an indispensable

guide to be used by the Nation, State, county, city, and town, and

by historical societies and other organizations in marking those

sites which perpetuate the memory of historical events. The re-

sults of the survey should be of incalculable value to the public

schools. It will enable local officials to prepare itineraries of his-

torical field trips. The files and publications of this section of the

project will furnish the basic materials from which future genera-

tions will derive a portion of their knowledge of Ohio history.

So far, 170,000 forms describing historic sites have been prepared

in Cuyahoga County where this phase of the project has operated.

An excellent and interesting volume on hotels and taverns in Cleve-

land from 1796 on is now ready for publication.

The study of the origins of place-names is a relatively new

field of historical research, becoming "increasingly significant and

fruitful." The origins of names, be they of persons, of geographi-

cal locations, or of other objects, have always held a romantic

interest. Under the influence of the social scientist, the etymolo-

gist, and the philologist, the study of place-names is being trans-

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formed from a "mere antiquarian curiosity to a genuine science."

The values of the place-names study are found to be manifold.

In the first place, it contributes to the satisfaction of the general

popular and romantic interest in traditions, myths, stories, and his-

tory of the background of the community, and serves to preserve

many facts and traditions. In the second place, the place-names

survey makes several real historical contributions: Archaeological

and anthropological facts are often revealed in the study of place-

names of ancient origin; valuable biographical data on early set-

tlers is uncovered; new historical data is disclosed in the many

localities which have little or no written history. Especially sig-

nificant are the contributions which such a study makes to the his-

tory of society, or social science. The results of the survey will

include the revelation of the life of the community, its historical

development and transformations. The data recorded is a reflec-

tion of the culture, customs, ideals, sentiments and sympathies,

politics, religion, industry, imagination, and sense of humor of the

people. One of the important contributions is that made to the

study of immigrant groups in America, for place-names, in many

instances, reflect the effects of immigration in geographical areas,

revealing what national groups have come in, what groups pre-

dominate or have predominated, and whether the influence has

been real or sentimental. The study of place-names has its geo-

graphical, as well as historical significance, for old and discon-

tinued names of descriptive nature often furnish information as

to earlier geographical or topographical conditions. Finally, the

place-names survey contributes to the study of linguistics by show-

ing the development of folk etymologies and revealing American-

isms, localisms, and dialect words. Valuable also is the informa-

tion as to changes in names, in form, spelling, and pronunciation,

and the causes for those changes. The Historic Sites and Place-

Names Survey presents a large project for future development.

Cost

The total cost of all this effort amounts to around $1,400,000.

It would be useless to attempt to evaluate the production in terms

of dollars and cents. However, in considering this figure, we must

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keep in mind first, that it was spent in an effort to give work to

employables on relief, and second, that the first several years of

the relief program were experimental years. The country had not

before been faced with the problem of creating a huge public

works project for the relief of unemployment. Of course, mis-

takes were made and, as a result, money was wasted. Those mis-

takes are not entirely chargeable to W.P.A. officials, but in many

cases to professional historians and other scholars who were called

upon to serve as advisors and in some instances as the supervisors

of projects. However, over a period of years, experimental pro-

cedure has evolved into a definite and well-planned program.

The future bears promise of more productive effort. To drop

what has been done without completion would amount to throwing

so much money away. Real economy now lies in the satisfactory

conclusion of the project.

To estimate the cost of production in terms of actual pub-

lished works is inaccurate. Although but 20 volumes have so far

appeared, the work on many other volumes has so far progressed

as to give promise of many publications appearing within the

coming year. Furthermore, even if publication were to cease,

the manuscript inventories, calendars, and bibliographies, etc.,

located in an accessible depository, such as the Library of the Ohio

State Archaeological and Historical Society, would prove of in-

calculable value to the researcher.

Problems in Production

Certain problems of great import still confront the survey

and its official sponsors. First, certain advisors and critics suggest

that the survey should devote itself to the conclusion of one task

before beginning another. However, in order to keep trained

workers in the field they must have work. Editors in the District

and State offices must continually return materials to the field

for checking and additional information. In order to retain them

for this service they must be given new tasks. Furthermore, since

the trained non-certified supervisory personnel can comprise no

more than five per cent. of the certified labor, in order to retain

a permanent trained staff the certified personnel must be kept up

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to a satisfactory level. This explains the expansion of the Records

Survey program.

Other difficulties lie, of course, in the kind of labor which

must be used, untrained and inexperienced, and much time must

be spent in training these workers. In connection with this prob-

lem is one that is a result of an act of Congress passed somewhat

over a year ago which calls for a month's lay-off of each worker

who has been on W.P.A. for 18 consecutive months. Well-

trained workers are suddenly dismissed from the survey, and be-

cause quotas must be kept up in order to retain non-certified per-

sonnel, they must be replaced by untrained workers. Further-

more, there is a certain amount of inefficiency on the part of the

workers due to physiological and psychological causes.  Many

W.P.A. workers suffer from malnutrition and other illnesses due

to their low wages. Many others suffer from mental disorders,

depression and other complexes, caused, in part, by the fact that

they must rely on relief for their living, and further, by the false

and inhuman attitude of many of the public toward W.P.A. and

its workers.

There is a lack of adequate technical supervision in the proj-

ect as a whole. While the State Office and certain of the district

offices have been well directed at times, the lack of security and

the low salaries have meant that most of the well-trained techni-

cians have lost no time in accepting more satisfactory positions.

While there are certain other problems presented by the admin-

istrative procedure of W.P.A., it must be said that the authorities

of the W.P.A. in Ohio have given great assistance and encourage-

ment to the advancement of the Historical Records Survey.

Perhaps the chief bottleneck in production at present is the

necessity for finding sponsors' contributions for publication. An

act of Congress requires the state or local communities to supply

twenty-five per cent. of the total spent by W.P.A. The Records

Survey is permitted to run on much less than that, due to the fact

that certain other projects balance the total. However, Records

Survey publications must be undertaken at the expense of the

sponsor. The attempt is being made to encourage the county com-

missioners to publish the county inventories, municipal officials

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to publish the city and village guides, State officials to publish the

inventories of their departments, religious denominations to pub-

lish the church inventories, library donations to publish the bibliog-

raphies, and private publishers to undertake other phases of this

part of the work. In general, the large urban centers have been

easily approachable and have made contributions. County com-

missioners in many rural areas have failed to understand the pur-

pose of the Records publications. In most cases this may be

blamed on the lack of knowledge of the value of legal records, and

in some cases blamed on political antagonism to the program of

the New Deal. Historians and other scholars may render their

professions and their localities a benefit by effectually working to

educate county and town officials to the need for guides to their

records, and by assisting in other ways to find those local funds

which are necessary to the continuation of this project. To date

twenty counties have promised funds for publication purposes.

In addition the city of Cleveland is guaranteeing funds for that

inventory, as are ten other municipalities.  Only one religious

body, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, has offered funds for the

guide to its records.

If I were to be permitted a further suggestion as to the admin-

istration of the Records Project by W.P.A., it would be to recom-

mend a consolidation of all projects dealing with public records

and using such records for writing or statistical purposes under

one administration, thus achieving a unity of effort and avoiding

much needless duplication of work and gaining the means through

a large certified personnel of establishing an adequate and efficient

technical staff.

The Future and the Defense Program

As to the future of the Historical Records Survey one can-

not predict. The Defense Program is taking up some of the slack

in unemployment, and so removes many of the trained workers

from the rolls. However, the backlog of employables on relief

has been so great that the relief problem is still apparently too

large to allow liquidation of the present program. The question

next arises, of course: Should such projects as the Records Sur-

vey be permitted to continue or should they be abolished in favor

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of defense projects? From the practical relief point of view, the

"white-collar" projects must be continued to provide work for that

class. In the second place, the work of the Records Survey con-

tributes to the most important phase of any defense movement,

that of maintaining faith in the system of government and bol-

stering morale.

The materials made available through the work of the Ohio

Historical Records Survey Project are those from which our

people will derive their knowledge of democratic America. Evi-

dence seems to indicate that the future progress in the study of

history lies along the lines of the development of new syntheses

which will include a minute examination of local records. Author-

ities on local government are of the opinion that the permanency

of our democratic institutions is dependent upon the encourage-

ment of an interest in local history and government. The study

of national history to the exclusion of local history, according to

some scholars, may be detrimental to the maintenance of demo-

cratic principles of government which originated in small, or local

units. The late Professor Frederick Jackson Turner saw in the

development of sectional self-consciousness the promise that

"American life will be enriched and safe-guarded by the develop-

ment of the greater variety of interests, purposes and ideals which

seem to be arising. A measure of local concentration seems neces-

sary to produce healthy, intellectual and moral life." Popular,

but superficial, interest in a community may be transformed into

a real worthwhile interest by the production of scientific his-

tory. Also the availability of sources of knowledge of the com-

munity often leads to an increased interest in it. An acquaintance

with the history of a community leads to the development of a

healthy localism or provincialism, which, in turn, acts to produce

a wholesome national democracy. The Ohio Historical Records

Survey Project, in making available scientific history concerning

local regions is serving the purpose of increasing local interest,

thereby contributing to those forces which work to keep American

democracy on the march.

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The contributions of the Committee on Archives and Medical

History, entitled "Ohio Medical History of the Period, 1835-

1858," will appear in the QUARTERLY for Oct.-Dec., 1941. A

glance at its program on page 208 shows a wide range of inter-

esting topics.

The first speaker on the Saturday morning session, sponsored

by the Columbus Genealogical Society and the Ohio State Archae-

ological and Historical Society, was Mr. Seward G. Folsom of

Lima, Ohio, who gave an interesting address on "Searching for a

Great Grandfather." He described in detail the activities of the

genealogist, drawing upon his own experiences to demonstrate the

joys to be found in such a search.

Another much appreciated feature of the Ohio History Con-

ference was the closing session on Saturday afternoon, a research

group meeting, the program of which is given on page 209.

The papers presented were stimulating and evoked lively

discussion.

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